PA Student Diaries

• Franklin TN Real Estate
• Franklin TN MLS Listings
• Franklin Tennessee Remax Agent
• Franklin Tennessee Homes for Sale
• Franklin Tennessee Real Estate Agent
• Williamson County TN Homes for Sale
• Thompsons Station TN Homes for Sale
• Davidson County TN Homes for Sale
• Nolensville TN Homes for Sale
• Brentwood TN Homes for Sale

Nashville, Tennessee is widely known for being the de facto capital of the country music world. While this conjures up a backwoods, homey image in the minds of most of the rest of the country, Nashville offers a surprising level of sophistication for those who choose to look.

Even before the Civil War, Nashville was one of the educational centers of the Old South. It was among the first southern cities to offer a public school system for its residents, and today offers such nationally acclaimed universities and colleges as The Art Institute of Tennessee — Nashville, Belmont University, Fisk University, International Academy of Design and Technology, Nashville State Community College, Tennessee State University, Vanderbilt University, and Watkins College of Art, Design & Film.

The city’s erudite reputation led to it being called the Athens of the South. The name was so well-known that the Tennessee Centennial Exposition of 1897 adopted it as a theme and used a full size replica of the Parthenon as its centerpiece. The building is still there today looking as though it had been transported from ancient Greece.

While country music’s Grand Ole Opry was named as a light-hearted parody of classical opera, Nashville boasts its own professional opera company, the Nashville Opera Association which performs four productions each year at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. The Center also houses Nashville’s professional ballet company, the Nashville Ballet, and the Tennessee Repertory Theatre Company.

Nashville’s skyline has a decidedly modern, sophisticated look as well. The Life & Casualty Building was Nashville’s first skyscraper, built in 1957. Today there are many buildings reaching for the sky adding modern architecture to counterpoint the Nashville’s Parthenon reproduction. Yet Nashville isn’t a concrete jungle. There are more than 10,000 acres of designated parks and greens within the county.

Nashville is also a leading hub of the health care industry. Home to more than 200 health care companies, Nashville has more than 90,000 health care jobs, about five times the number of jobs related to the music industry in Nashville. HCA, Inc. is just one of those hundreds of healthcare companies headquartered in Nashville, but it alone is the largest operator of private hospitals in the world. Nissan has a large factory in nearby Smyrna, Tennessee and its corporate headquarters is in Franklin. Dell Computers’ corporate headquarters adds to the high tech side of Nashville’s economic base.

Despite all these high-falutin’ cultural credentials, Nashville remains firmly grounded in its country heritage as well. The Grand Ole Opry established Nashville as the home of country music in 1925 and has been on the airwaves reinforcing that message for over 80 years. The Country Music Hall of Fame is in Nashville and the Country Music Awards (CMA) are held there each year as well.

Nashville is a city of contrasts, with high culture mixing with old-fashioned country charm, modern skyscrapers towering over ancient Greek temples, and a wealth of institutions of higher learning surrounded by the rich farmland of the Tennessee Valley. The best of all worlds can be found in Nashville.

• Corporate Housing
• Corporate Housing Washington D.C.

Not long ago, I took a new job that required me to relocate. At the time, I owned a house, and the real estate market was just starting its downward trend. I was worried about how quickly I’d be able to sell, and where I’d live while I was waiting. I was not in a position to take on a second mortgage while hoping my first house would sell.

My wife and son stayed in the old house, and I set about the task of finding temporary accommodations in which to live in the new location. I had a fixed budget for relocation, and since I didn’t know how long it would take to sell my house, I wanted to be frugal. I looked for an apartment that would rent to me on a month-to-month basis. With a large state college in the next town over just beginning the school year, there weren’t many available apartments at all. Those that were available, generally wanted a one year lease. Finally, I found an ad for a small apartment was whose owner willing to rent on a monthly basis . It was in terrible shape, old appliances, poor location, and twice in the several months that I stayed there, rain water poured in through the leaky roof.

It was just me staying there, and I can put up with a lot. I figured that it would just be a couple of months, and I could go back to my own home on weekends. As you can guess, the experience was a complete disaster. After the first roof leak, I worried every time it rained about whether I would come home from work to find it raining as hard in the apartment as it was outdoors.

It ended up taking four months before we finally sold our house and were able to close and move in to a new house near my new job. Those four months were painful. While I was grateful that my new company provided a relocation budget, at all, I think the situation could have been handled in a much better and more professional manner. The experience certainly did not help my overall impression of the new company.

If instead, the company had worked with a professional provider of temporary corporate housing, I could have avoided the whole unpleasant experience. It would have demonstrated a much higher level of professionalism and concern for the well-being of the company’s employees. After all, an employee who is constantly worried about his housing arrangements is going to be distracted from his daily responsibilities.

Companies like Wynne Corporate Housing are experts at providing comfortable short term corporate housing suitable for employees who have been asked to relocate for a new position. These accommodations are often furnished corporate apartments with the services and facilities to make the transition time go smoothly for the new employee. With this concern completely taken care of by the professionals at Wynne Corporate Housing, employees can be more focused and more productive. It’s a win-win situation for both parties with Wynne Corporate Housing.

• Encinitas Homes for Sale
• Encinitas MLS Listings
• Carlsbad Homes for Sale
• Oceanside CA Homes for Sale
• Solana Beach Homes for Sale
• Del Mar Homes for Sale
• Vista CA Homes for Sale
• San Marcos CA Homes for Sale
• Cardiff by The Sea Homes for Sale
• San Diego Homes for Sale

Encinitas, California is well known among the surfing community as one of the finest surfing opportunities in California. Since the early days of the surfing craze, places like Swami’s Beach and Moonlight Beach in Encinitas have been synonymous with the surfing lifestyle. One of the sport’s great champions, Rob Machado, “Mr. Smoothy” to his fans, lives in Cardiff-by-the-Sea, an Encinitas community, and helps to promote surfing to a whole new generation.

Each year Rob holds a surfing event for boys and girls under 16 years of age at Cardiff-by-the-Sea, known as the Rob Machado Surf Experience. In addition to a completion, the event features demonstrations by pro-surfers including Rob, himself. He takes the time to talk with the kids participating in the event and share some of his experiences from the world of professional surfing. The competition is an annual summer highlight for many local kids, each hoping to be named King or Queen of the Surf.

Although injuries have knocked Rob out of professional completion at the age of 35, he still ranked as one of the top ten most popular surfers in the prestigious Surfer Poll in both 2007 and 2008. Rob has an incredible pedigree of completion wins and surfing accomplishments including being a member of the Surfer’s Hall of Fame, where he was inducted not once, but twice, first in 200 and re-inducted in 2006. A partial list of his tournament victories and accomplishments in the sport are a testament not only to his skill, but to his ability to perform at the very top level for a very long time.

In 1989, at the age of 16, Rob was named the National Juniors Champion and won his first professional competition just a year later. Finishing in 2nd place in the U.S./National Championships in 1992, Rob picked up his game and won the title outright in 1993. Other career highlights include the Pipeline Masters Championship in 2000 and the Monster Energy Pipeline Championship in 2006. He also picked up a gold medal in the popular ESPN X-Games competition in both 2006 and 2007. He has 12 career World Championship Tour (WCT) victories to add to his impressive list of surfing accomplishments.

Although he was born in Australia which also has some great surfing, Rob Machado now live in the Encinitas community of Cardiff-by-the=Sea in California where he is an active member of the community and has received awards for his work in supporting environmental protection groups in southern California. Each year he holds a golf tournament whose proceeds are used to support local environmental groups through his charitable Rob Machado Foundation.

Rob is one of a number of famous residents of Encinitas, California. In Rob’s case, it was the surf and the beaches that brought him there, but Encinitas draws many celebrity residents for many different reasons.

• Scottsdale AZ Real Estate for Sale
• Scottsdale AZ Homes for Sale
• Scottsdale MLS Listings
• Scottsdale AZ Real Estate Agents
• Scottsdale AZ Short Sales
• Scottsdale AZ Golf Course Homes
• Scottsdale AZ Vacation Homes
• Remax Scottsdale

Scottsdale Arizona has often been called the South Beach of the West. While it lacks Miami’s oceanfront lifestyle, it too has a vibrant vacation feel with a bustling nightlife and fantastic restaurants. Only New York City has more AAA Five Diamond hotels and resorts in the country.

Scottsdale lays just east of Phoenix and north of Tempe, close enough to benefit from the influence of both cities but with a rhythm all its own. Scottsdale is a favorite tourist destination due to its temperate winter climate and hosts over 8 million visitors a year.

Scottsdale is more than just tourism though. It is one of the fastest growing cities in the country. People from all over the country are moving there for many reasons. It is a golf Mecca and boasts over 200 area courses including many celebrity-designed championship greens. High-profile tournaments call Scottsdale home including FBR Open (the old Phoenix Open) which is held at the Tournament Players Club.

Arts and culture in Scottsdale are also internationally recognized. In 2005, American Style Magazine ranked Scottsdale’s Arts Festival number one in the United States. Artists from around the world make Scottsdale their home and this has led to a rich arts community that has few rivals in the country. The city has more per capita art galleries and museums than almost any other in the U.S.

Scottsdale has also earned a reputation for its retail offerings with some of the most popular shopping opportunities in the Southwest. Large retail complexes include Kierland Commons in North Scottsdale, and the two million square foot Scottsdale Fashion Square, home to dozens of high-end retailers.

The city is home to an exhilarating nightlife scene, also reminiscent of South Beach. The nightclub district in downtown Scottsdale hosts major crowds on the weekends. Most nightclubs in the district are within walking distance of each other and, coupled with the warm weather, provide a street party atmosphere for the increasingly-younger crowd.

Scottsdale is not all about the partying, however. It is also one of the most popular retirement locations in the country. The city’s temperate dry climate is a draw for those escaping the snow and cold of more northerly climes. The city’s public transportation system makes for easy access between downtown and outlying residential areas and health care cannot be bested anywhere in the world. Scottsdale is home to one of the Mayo Clinic’s three major centers.

It is no wonder that Scottsdale attracts residents from all over the country. The mix of sports, culture, climate, and cuisine blend together to make a unique lifestyle experience that is unrivalled even in more populous cities. The South Beach of the Southwest has come a long way since its incorporation in 1951 with its original 2,000 residents. The city now is home to over a quarter of a million inhabitants.

In 1993, the United States Conference of Mayors named Scottsdale “Most Livable City” and its growing population is a testament to the truth in that statement.

• Luxury Homes for Sale Atlanta
• Luxury Homes for Sale Alpharetta
• Luxury Homes for Sale Marietta
• Luxury Homes for Sale Woodstock
• Luxury Homes for Sale Cumming
• Luxury Homes for Sale Kennesaw
• Luxury Homes for Sale Roswell
• Luxury Homes for Sale Canton
• Atlanta MLS Listings
• Remax Agent Atlanta

Atlanta, Georgia is one of the fastest-paced cities of the South. Though the city has one of the most storied histories in the South, it has grown literally from its 1964 ashes to become one of the most modern and technology-focused cities in the United States.

Many large corporations have set up their headquarters in Atlanta to take advantage of the young, talented workforce and the city’s central Southern location.

Coca Cola has been a Georgia institution since its inception in 1885. Today, Coca Cola is headquartered in downtown Atlanta in a block of buildings encompassing two million square feet. In 2007, the company announced that it would decrease its energy consumption at its headquarters by 23% and its water consumption by 15% through investments in more efficient technology. The company maintains staff in finance, technology, operations, and marketing in its Atlanta headquarters.

Delta Airlines was born in 1924 as the world’s first aerial cropdusting service. Passenger flights began in 1929 and the company grew quickly from there. In 1941, Delta moved its headquarters from Monroe, Louisiana to Atlanta. Over the years, it has become the largest airline based on number of routes. In 2005, Delta filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection but emerged in 2007 with an ambitious expansion plan. As Delta runs most of its operations from its Atlanta headquarters, many job opportunities exist.

Ted Turner founded Turner Broadcasting in 1970 when he bought out WJRJ-TV in Atlanta. With a change in programming, the new station began to pick up steam and when it began to broadcast Atlanta Braves games in 1973, the little station began to make major inroads in network broadcasting. Today, Turner Broadcasting is a Time Warner company and encompasses CNN, the Cartoon Network, Turner Classic Movies and several other television, radio, and internet properties. The company’s Atlanta offices include a six-floor 198,000 square foot broadcast facility.

AT&T Mobility employs approximately 1,800 at its Atlanta headquarters and is the third largest employer in the city. This branch of AT&T handles all of the cell phone and PDA business for the company. AT&T has its worldwide headquarters in Dallas, Texas. AT&T Mobility is one of the most profitable segments in the company and its staff count is expanding in the Atlanta area.

The world headquarters of Home Depot is just outside of Atlanta in Vinings, Georgia. The company maintains over 2,200 stores in all 50 states and several other countries. The largest home-improvement retailer in the United States, the Home Depot has grown in leaps and bounds from its inception in 1978. Its Atlanta headquarters provides all functions for the corporate structure including marketing, accounting, and operations. Home Depot is #17 in the Fortune 500 and, although sales have slowed in the current recession, it continues to thrive as more homeowners are choosing to do repairs and maintenance themselves rather than hiring someone to do it for them.